How Wattstax Ushered in a New Era of Black Art
Organized in the aftermath of the 1965 Watts uprising, the music festival showed that something powerful was happening in the Black community.
The Rise and Fall of “True Crime” Radio Dramas
Depictions of poor, non-white victims and informants led working-class and rural listeners to turn against the genre.
Beatrice Hastings: The Forgotten Modernist
Marginalized in early histories of Modernist literature, Hastings left a mark on one of the most influential literary magazines of the early twentieth century.
Roger Ebert vs. Video Games
The film critic’s unconsidered observation about Doom touched off a firestorm that continues to burn for gamers and digital media critics.
The Symbolic Survival of The Master and Margarita
Neither supernatural forces nor Soviet censors were able to suppress individual creativity and determination.
Bugs Bunny Scholarship Is a Wascally Wesearch Wabbit Hole
In this edition of Research Rabbit Hole, we dig up scholarship about what one academic calls "the signifying rabbit."
The Scholars Charting Black Music’s Timeline: Earl Stewart and Michael Veal
Earl Stewart and Michael Veal explore African American music from the Civil War and the evolving sounds of the Black Atlantic.
Who Made That Word and Why?
No matter how many words in a language, it seems that we always need just one more to explain ourselves.
The Exotic “Pornography” of the Arabian Nights
The heated debates over Burton’s explicit translation of the beloved tales exposed Victorian England’s preoccupation with sex.
The Reality Behind Kitchen Sink Realism
The gritty dramas of the 1950s and 1960s revealed the bitterness and disillusionment of Britain's working class youth.